Three Simple Words
by Yosei-chan
Summary: A short valentine's day story. Ryou always had a pit of a soft spot for a certain cat-eared girl. But Ichigo seems to only want to be with Masaya, but hearts can change, can't they?


_**Three Simple Words**_

**Summary:** A short valentine's day story. Ryou always had a pit of a soft spot for a certain cat-eared girl. But Ichigo seems to only want to be with Masaya, but hearts can change, can't they? (RyouxIchigo obviously heehee)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew, full stop (do I need to say more xD)

**Author Note:** This story got deleted .. So I have put it up again...

**Kish: **OMG ITS A RYOUXICHIGO FAN FIC  
**Me:** Yes...it is  
**Kish:** ... but...but  
**Me:** I'll do a Kishx Ichigo soon don't worry.**  
Kish:** Yay XD  
**Ichigo:** What about an IchigoxMasaya fanfic?  
**Me:** -Locks her in a cupboard- Nooo mwhahahaha

* * *

**_Chapter One: First Valentines and Another Disappointment_  
**

Ichigo walked to school, an extra skip in her step. Today was the 13th of February which meant tomorrow was Valentines Day, she giggled to herself as she imagined what sort of things she and Aoyama-kun might do tomorrow. Her eyes glazed over and she envisioned a candle-light dinner with roses in a vase in the centre. Aoyama-kun was wearing a simple black suit, which brought out his ebony locks and soft hazel eyes.

"Ichigo..." Whispered the "dream" Aoyama-kun.

"Yes Aoyama-kun, you know you can tell me anything." Ichigo leaned forward slightly in her chair, a look of slight concern on her face.

"I love you, more than anything. Lets make a promise to each other now, so we can be together forever." Aoyama-kun produced a small package, wrapped in red silk and placed it carefully into Ichigo's hand. Cautiously, her heart beating fast and smacking against her ribs as though it was trying to burst out from her chest, she removed the soft silk which felt like water between her fingers and opened the small black box infront of her. Inside was a ring, it was gold and on top of it was a large clear rock,a diamond, which sparkled and winked at her as the light from the candles bounced off it.

"A-Aoyama-kun this is..." But her voice trailed off as Aoyama-kun got up from his chair and got down on one knee.

"Ichigo lets make the promise now, be mine forever and I shall be yours forever" His gorgeous brown eyes looked so earnest as he spoke.

"Oh! Aoyama-kun...of course you're the only boy in the whole wide universe for me." She felt some tears of happiness slip down her face as she said this, and she was about to wipe them away but a finger reached up and gently brushed them away. Ichigo looked up and saw Aoyama-kun's face coming closer and closer. Their lips were an inch apart, a centimetre, a millimetre. Ichigo shut her eyes preparing for contact.

"ICHIGO!" Shouted Moe and Miwa together, running up to join their friend who was on the opposite side of the road. Ichigo jumped with an unpleasant jolt from her dream world, and turned to look at her friends, her face as bright and glowing with embarrassment from what she had been imagining.

"Errr...Hey Moe, Miwa" She scratched the back of her neck nervously as she saw them stop and stare at her suspiciously. "What..?"

"Why are you blushing...?" Miwa said a small smile on her face.

"Were you think about a certain boy?" Moe said, with a smile also playing on her lips.

"After all " cut in Miwa, "Its Valentines Day tomorrow, the day when couples all over the world express their love to one another."

Ichigo's blush got deeper and deeper until she turned her face down and fiddled with a rock on the ground. "Well actually.." She stuttered. "I haven't actually asked him if he wants to do anything tomorrow.. well not yet anyways."

"Like that even matters Ichigo! You two are in love he will obviously want to spend time with you on Valentines Day." Moe said, while Miwa nodded her head in agreement.

"Thanks guys!" Ichigo smiled at them both and then looked down at her watch. "Wahhhhh We are gonna be so late!" Without a backwards glance Ichigo turned and dashed off into the direction of the school.

"Hey! Wait up Ichigo!" Cried her two friends as they tried to keep up with her.

Ichigo sat in her seat, not paying attention to the teacher's ramblings. She had more important things to worry about, like where she and Aoyama-kun would go on their special date. They could have a romantic meal just like in her daydream, but that would be expensive since restaurant prices always rose on Valentine's Day; perhaps a stroll along the beach, but the beach was too far away to go for just a stroll. Maybe they could spend the whole day there? For the whole of that lesson, Ichigo kept changing her mind about where she and Aoyama-kun could go, and by the time the bell rung to signal break time Ichigo still had not made up her mind. Sighing, she picked her bag and decided to go and search for Aoyama-kun.

She went to his form room first, thinking he was probably there, but there was no sign of him or any of his friends. Next, she tried the lockers but again, there was no sign of him. Next, the gym incase he was practicing some Kendo. There were some boys practicing, but not one of them was Aoyama-kun. Feeling down she headed back to her class room to find Moe and Miwa waiting for her eagerly, they must have guessed that she had gone to look for Aoyama-kun.

"So did you find him?"

"He must have said yes, I mean he is practically your boyfriend!"

"Where are you two going then?"

However they both stopped when they saw the look on Ichigo's face, her normally bright, happy face was now dark and depressed like someone had turned off a light inside her.

"Ichigo?" Moe said in a worried voice.

"I..I didn't find him anywhere." Ichigo said sadly.

"Maybe he is sick today?" Suggested Miwa.

"Why don't you try his mobile?" Moe added smiling encouragingly at Ichigo.

"Oh yeah..." Said Ichigo, a smile started to appear on her face. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! I am such a ditz." Moe and Miwa laughed slightly, glad to see that Ichigo's spirits had risen slightly.

Ichigo pulled out her phone and selected Aoyama-kun's number...ring...ring...ring...ring

A robotic voice cut across the ringing, "The person you are trying to call is not avaliable. Please leave a message after the tone. Thank you."

Ichigo put her phone back into her pocket, and the dark expression on her face. "He must be avoiding me." She said in a quiet whisper, so quiet in fact that Moe and Miwa had to lean in closer to hear her. There was a moments of silence while both Moe and Miwa thought, then Miwa snapped her fingers.

"Just go to Kendo practice tonight and catch him as he leaves." She said

Ichigo nodded but she still looked upset. If Aoyama-kun was avoiding her then he wouldn't be happy to see her at his practice. What if he had found someone else? What if he had lost interest in her? Her thoughts rambled on for the rest of the day, making her feel more and more upset and depressed. When the bell at last rung, Ichigo headed to the gym where she knew after school Kendo practice would be taking place. She found herself surprised that she was so nervous, her cheeks were flushed and her hands shook slightly, she gripped her bag harder but her hands just shook more.

As she approached the gym she heard the screams, cries, and shouts of the million or so girls who always came to watch Aoyama-kun, so she guessed he must be playing. Shuffling into the the large rectangle room, she looked up and saw two figures in the centre playing kendo and around them were at least two hundred girls.

"Aoyama-kun is so popular, every girl would give up an arm and a leg to go out with him. I guess...I guess I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to go out with one of them rather than me," she thought.

She decided to stay in the doorway and wait till the end of practice, for then she would catch Aoyama-kun as he left.

After about half an hour the practice was over. Ichigo watched as Aoyama-kun was surrounded by a sudden surge of girls. She tried to catch his eye and at last he looked over to the door and saw her. Ichigo half expected him to frown and look away but instead he gave her one of his smiles. The second she saw it, Ichigo felt herself going into her dream like state again, and wondered how she could ever doubt Aoyama-kun. He was so sweet and caring. She watched him squeeze his way through the mass of girls and hurry over to her, that smile of his still plastered on his face.

"Momomiya-san!" He said happily. " I haven't seen you all day, I even went to look for you."

Ichigo blushed slightly, so he had wanted to see her just as much as she wanted to see him.

"Oh! I was trying to look for you too, but I couldn't find you, so then I tried your mobile but you didn't pick up." Ichigo's smile dropped very slightly when she said this and he noticed this.

"Oh I'm so sorry Momomiya-san, but by accident I left my phone at home..pretty forgetful of me huh?" He gave her a nervous laugh.

It was as if all the depression had been sucked out of her like a vacuum cleaner. So Aoyama-kun hadn't been ignoring her!

"Don't worry about it," she said, waving her hand frantically. She then paused and a blush began to appear on her face. In her head she was praying that her cat-ears were not going to pop out, that was the last thing she needed right now. "Erm..A-Aoyama-kun I was...um...you know...wondering if you would like to..to spend Valentines Day with me?" She looked up at Aoyama-kun and saw that his smile had disappeared and was replaced with an uneasy and upset expression, her heart felt like it had fallen all the way down to her foot.

"Oh God...Momomiya-san I am so sorry, I have Kendo practice and..." His voice died away as he saw Ichigo's expression. "How about we spend time with each other now?"

Ichigo shook her head slowly, blinking at the same time to stop the tears from appearing. "No I cant...I'm working at the cafe..." She turned away from Masaya, she didn't want him to see her cry. "I'll see you around ok?" she whispered and then began to run down the steps away from the gym.

"Momomiya-san!" She heard his desperate shout but ignored it, because she knew if she turned around he would see her cry, and she didn't want him to know how much this hurt her.

After she had been running for about ten minutes, she stopped and sat on a bench, panting loudly. After she had caught her breath she looked up and saw a couple walking hand in hand, they were talking and laughing. Her eyes began to water and this time she allowed the tears to flow freely down her face.

"Stupid, stupid , stupid kendo practice," She said quietly to herself, after another five minutes of silence, which was spent with just Ichigo staring blankly at her shoes. Then she whispered, "Its just a day after all, just some stupid labelled day. But how come it feels so important to me?" Sighing, she dragged herself to her feet and headed slowly towards Cafe Mew Mew.

Cafe Mew Mew had been decorated accordingly, due to Valentines Day. Though the outside remainded the same, except that the menu had been decorated with a few extra red hearts, the inside was a different matter. Red, gold, pink and purple streamers hung from the crystal chandeliers. Luscious and bright red roses had been placed in elegant china vases on each table and by the windows. Long banners, cut into the shape of many little hearts, were hung randomly all over the cafe. However,  
nothing else had been put up, for otherwise it would have looked excessive.

There was a loud crash as Lettuce fell over and broke her 20th plate. Zakuro walked her usual cool air surrounding her, and began to help her up. Once Lettuce was upright Pudding rushed over, balancing on a giant red and white stripped ball, a large grin spread over on her face. One hand held ten or fifteen plates stacked haphazardly on top of one another, and the other clutched a large half-empty packet of sweets.

"Pudding will help clean up! Pudding wants to help Lettuce onee-chan!" Pudding jumped off her ball, the sudden motion sending the ball flying towards the kitchen door. Just then, Keiichiro walked out of the said door holding a large cake which he had a been making since the morning. The striped ball hit him right in the face, sending him flying backwards through the door. His beautiful cake flew forwards and landed on a young girl's head, which made her start to scream.

"This was a new blouse! Oh my God! Look at this mess! I'll never get the stains out!" The girl began to wail while her friends tried to calm her down.

Keiichiro appeared holding his nose, a small trickle of blood appearing from it. He looked slightly dazed and looked around, regarding the mess around him. Before he could take in everything, Pudding was on him with waterfalls of tears falling down her face.

"Pudding is sorry that she hurt Akasaka-san," her bottom lip trembled and then her face brightened. " Pudding will go find the first aid kit to help Akasaka-san!" She ran off into the kitchen and more loud crashes were heard as she began to demolish the entire kitchen in search of the first aid kit.

"Wait, Pudding-chan!" Cried Keiichiro. When the crashes continued he shouted again. "We don't have a first aid kit!" But evidently, the crashes and bangs that Pudding was making in her "search" meant she couldn't hear Keiichiro's cries. Sighing, he hurried into the kitchen to try and stop the ten year old from causing any more damage.

Zakuro, Lettuce and Mint ( who had not even left her seat to help) watched all the happenings. There was a moment's silence between the three when Lettuce suddenly cleared her throat.

"I wonder where Ichigo-chan is, she's half an hour late for work," Lettuce said in a worried voice. Zakuro narrowed her eyes slightly in a thoughtful way and turned her head to look at the clock, her forehead crinkled into a frown but she didn't say anything.

"Probably skipping work to go on a date with Aoyama-san." Mint said in her usual tone.

"That's not like Ichigo. She may be late sometimes, but never this late," Zakuro said in an oddly cool voice.

"Oh...er..." Mint felt slightly put out by the coolness in Zakuro's voice, she thought desperately for something to say. She turned her head down and whispered "Well, I suppose." Her voice trailed off.

"Maybe an alien pounced on her or kidnapped her!" Cried Lettuce.

"Ichigo can look after herself," Said Zakuro firmly. "She is a strong warrior."

The three girls slipped into silence. Mint began to sip her tea again while Lettuce and Zakuro began to serve the customers who were obviously becoming impatient at the lack of service, Pudding and Keiichiro still seemed to be busy cleaning the kitchen. Suddenly, the door opened and a very depressed Ichigo shuffled into the Cafe. Everybody looked up and they were about to welcome her when suddenly, a voice spoke from the stairs.

"You're late, again." Everyone, including Ichigo, turned. Standing at the bottom of the stairs wearing his black top and trousers was Ryou, wearing a look of annoyance aimed at Ichigo. Suddenly Ichigo's unhappy face was replaced with once of pure anger. She stomped over to Ryou, who didn't take his eyes of her, and turned her head up and met his eyes. She eyed him with a look of scorn etched on her face.

She began to shout at him. "How dare you! The second I walk in, clearly unhappy, the first thing you say is 'You're late, again'! You, Shirogane, are the most arrogant and unthoughtful man! You should think of a girl's feelings when the love of her life just turned her down for Valentines Day!" Realising what she had just said, she raised a hand to her mouth. To her surprise Ryou's eyes softened and he looked at her with an odd expression on his face. Everyone in the cafe had stopped what they were doing and was watching the pair by the stairs.

"Aoyama turned you down for Valentines Day then?" His voice was quiet, only Ichigo could hear him.

Ichigo didn't say anything. Ryou eyed her for a second and then turned away and started to walk back up the stairs. He stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I'm sorry you couldn't be with him tomorrow," He said "I know what its like, not being with the person you love.", and then continued back up the stairs to his room. Ichigo just after stared at him, completely shocked. She was not sure what she had expected Shirogane to say, but it was definitely not that. To her surprise, her heart was beating slightly faster than before. Why? It was just Shirogane! Absent-mindedly, she put a hand to her beating heart and suddenly she felt bad for shouting so rudely at him, after all he hadn't known about Aoyama. The people in the cafe had already began to eat and talk among themselves again. Ichigo snapped out of her daze, turned to her friends, and gave a forced smile.

"I'll go get changed then." and before any of them could say anything, she had dashed to the lockers as quickly as she could. The four girls exchanged worried glances.

"I hope Ichigo-chan will be alright," Said Lettuce, biting her lip nervously and still looking at the corridor which Ichigo had run down. "She looked so depressed when she walked in here..."

"Perhaps Aoyama-kun had other plans, like having to visit family, we don't know the details do we?" Zakuro offered

"When Ichigo onee-chan is sad so is Pudding." Pudding said from the door of the kitchen. She had dust and bruises all over her, which she had obviously gained from her rampage round the kitchen.

"What do you think Mint-chan?" Inquired Lettuce turning to face the black haired girl sitting in the corner of the cafe.

"Pardon Lettuce, what are you talking about?" Said Mint taking an dainty sip from her tea. "I was busy drinking my tea."

Lettuce sighed slightly "Mint-chan what do you think of the Ichigo-chan and Aoyama-san situation?"

Mint frowned "I hope it won't make her late for work, or..." she shuddered " I might have to skip my afternoon tea to 'help'!"

No-one knew quite what to say to this, so they continued working. Lettuce however kept glancing over to the corridor which lead to the lockers wondering what was taking Ichigo so long. She decided after another minute had gone by that she had better go check on her friend. As she walked down she heard some sounds coming from the lockers but couldn't make out what they were. However once she arrived outside the door she could tell it was definitely the sound of someone crying, peeking through the keyhole she saw Ichigo slumped on the bench her head in her hands, tears were falling down her face and her usually sparkling eyes had turned dull and red from the amount of crying she had clearly been doing. Lettuce opened the door slowly, the second the door hit the wall with a soft thud Ichigo jumped and looked up quickly at the figure in the door. Lettuce noted how pained and heartbroken her friend's friend face looked, it was hard to believe this was the same girl who normally laughed and told jokes and was loved by everybody who came to the cafe.

"Ichigo..." Said Lettuce in a slightly shocked voice, Ichigo's lip just wobbled more and Lettuce immediately rushed to her friend's side and gave her a hug. Ichigo returned the hug and buried her face into the shoulder of her friend.

"Its not fair.." She whispered still trying to control her tears, with little success. "Why...why did he have to have stupid kendo practice...why couldn't he just spend the day with me, kendo practice is always getting in the way, its my first Valentines Day with him but its just another disappointment!" Her tears increased and she let out a wail of frustration. Lettuce just increased the tightness of the hug hoping to give the red-head some comfort.

Unknown to them however, a tall blond boy was watching the pair through a crack in the door, his gaze was locked on Ichigo, who was still crying desperately in Lettuce's arms. His expression looked concerned, but there was something deeper in his eyes. He didn't enter the room or knock on the door, instead he just let out a soft sigh absently brushed his hair out of his eyes, he gave the two girls inside the room one last glance before he turned away and walked back down the corridor.

After a long time of crying, Ichigo seemed to have calmned down quite alot, so Lettuce let her go and put her hands on her friend's shoulders, in a supportive way. Ichigo hiccupped slightly and looked up to meet her friend's gaze and gave her a small smile, that small smile seemed to break the iron cast that had been plastered on her face, and the Ichigo everyone knew and loved began to shine through again.

"Thanks, Lettuce-chan, you know, for being there for me." Ichigo said the smile still on her face.

Lettuce returned the smile. "You know I will always be there for you Ichigo-chan, and I'm sure things between you and Aoyama-kun will work out."

Ichigo's smile slipped for a second at the mention of Aoyama-kun, but she soon regained it and nodded her head. "Yeah, I hope that you're right Lettuce-chan."

With that said the two girls agreed to return to work, they didn't feel it was fair to leave things up to Zakuro and Pudding. Mint didn't count, since they knew that she was probably still busy drinking her afternoon tea. As Ichigo entered the main part of the cafe with Lettuce, she couldn't help but smile, things were just as they should be.  
Pudding was entertaining the customers, she was balancing on her striped ball on one leg and holding two plates on sticks, the customers below her were clapping and laughing. Mint sat in her usual corner holding her a tea with her little finger poking out, taking short sips from it every now and then. Last was Zakuro who was currently serving a terrified looking young girl, Zakuro always seemed to make customers feel nervous with her stance and tone of voice, if they got to know her better they would know what a kind and intelligent person she actually was.

Ichigo turned away from her friends tied her apron around herself and picked up a spare tray on one of the tables and started to wonder around the cafe seeing if anyone needed help. Almost immediately, a young man caught her eye and she walked over to his table.

"Yes sir." She said, plastering a smile on her face. "How may I help."

"I want a salad fork." He said simply, his face stoney

"A salad fork?" Ichigo asked, completely bewildered. "But we don't serve salad here."

"And?" The man replyed, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...you eat salad, with a salad fork." Ichigo pointed out irritably.

"Well done! I'm impressed that you worked that one out" The man said very sarcastically.

"But we don't serve salad here." Her teeth were now clenched and she spoke slowly, as though hoping this would make the man understand.

"And?" He said again.

"You don't need a salad fork then!" Ichigo was struggling very hard not to shout.

"I eat cake with a salad fork." He said in a blank voice.

"You.." She said pointing a finger at the man, in an almost accusing fashion. "eat cake with a salad fork?"

"Yes, do you have a problem with that." He raised his eyebrow again. Ichigo desperately wanted to rip it off; but she clenched her fist to stop herself.

"Just. Use. Your. Normal. Fork." She spoke dangerously quietly.

"No." He sniffed and turned away from her.

"YOU ST-" Ichigo began but a calm voice interrupted her.

"Sorry sir, here is your salad fork." Ichigo turned, and stared into the smiling face of Keiichiro. In his hand he held a large wooden salad fork, which he offered to the eyebrow-raising man. The man snatched it out of Keiichiro's hand and tried to eat his strawberry parfait with it. The large fork meerly crushed the entire cake, the man swore loudly and a few heads turned but clearly the man didn't care.

"I can't eat my cake with this. Why didn't you tell me it was that big. I'll use my normal fork." The man handed the dirty salad fork back to Keiichiro. Ichigo almost exploded but a hand grabbed hers before she could do anything, and guided her gently, but firmly towards the kitchen. Ichigo didn't struggled just glowered angrily to herself, people these days could be extremely rude in her opinion. When they reached the kitchen the hand holding hers let go. It was of course Keiichiro, he looked down at her and his usual smile appeared.

"I thought I better drag you away, before you started to attack that man." He said, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Well, some people can be so rude. He didn't even say please!" Ichigo huffed.

"Not everyone on this planet is a saint. And no-one can perfect, yet you must protect them all." Keiichiro's smile and been replace by a serious look, a meaningful look.

"Akasaka-san, yes I know, I want to protect them all. Even, rude jerks like that." They were both silent for a second, both in deep thought. Then Keiichiro snapped back into reality.

"Well, Ichigo-san I better get back to work. Cakes don't make themselves."With that he turned and began to knead the pastry he had been working on before the salad fork incident. Ichgio watched his movements for a second, but then was distracted by the smell of something out of place. Turning her head towards the stove, she saw a large pot simmering quietly, she looked over to Keiichiro and saw that he was a busy. A mischievous smirk appeared on her face and she tip-toed over to the pot. Inside was a noodle and chicken mixture. Picking up a clean spoon which lay on the counter top, she dipped it into the pot and was about to devour the contents when a hand rested on her shoulder. Ichigo gave off a small yelp of surprise and dropped the spoon. It clanged loudly as it hit the high polished floor. The person who had grabbed her shoulder chuckled slightly and she turned.

"Miss Ichigo, I didn't know you had such a dark side to you!" He laughed again and sent her a wink. Ichigo couldn't help but blush slightly.

"Err...erm...well...sorry..Akasaka-san." She downcasted her eyes and shuffled her feet in an embarrassed fashion.

"Don't worry Ichigo-san. Infact I'm honoured you wanted to try my cooking. However, I don't think Ryou would be very pleased if you goubled down all his lunch"

Ichigo didn't say anything to this just continued to look slightly embarrassed at her greediness. Suddenly, from the baking over there emitted a loud beeping and Keiichiro jumped and hurried over to his now burning cake.

"Argh...er..." He turned around to Ichigo. "Would you mind getting Ryou's lunch ready?" She gave him a small nod and he quickly began to try and mend his precious cake.

Ichigo pulled out a large china bowl and a fork, and began to hurridely put the noodles and chicken into the bowl. Once she was finished she ran upstairs, clutching the bowl to her chest to make sure the contents didn't fly everywhere. When she reached Ryou's dor she noticed it was, strangely, open. Stepping inside she saw Ryou typing frantically on the computer, occasionally stopping to think. Ichigo found herself staring at him, like she had done many a time before. His blond hair reflected the golden sunlight, which trickled in through a crack in the curtains. His deep sapphire eyes, sparkled with a passion for his work as he typed new data into his computer, and yet she saw that beyond all that, there was...loneliness. Ichigo sighed, and then blushed slightly when she realised how long she had been staring at him. Ryou, upon hearing the small sigh from beyond, turned his head around and stared slightly surprised at Ichigo, then he cocked an eyebrow.

"How long have you been there for?" He inquired.

"Err..um..well..you see.." Ichigo mentally shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I've only just arrived. I brought you your lunch." She extended her arms so Ryou could clearly see the bowl. He eyed it, an odd expression on his face.

"You didn't make it, did you?"

"No I-" Ichigo stopped when she released what he just said. "Wait a minute! Why would it be a problem if I had cooked it?" She puffed out her cheeks in an angry fashion.  
Even in her angry state she swore she saw Ryou sending a small smile in her direction. But when she had looked more closely, there was no sign of a smile and he had begun turning back to his computer.

"Don't get all worked up. Just put the food there." He waved his hand vaguely to the right of his computer. Ichigo strolled forward and put the bowl, perhaps a little but too firmly, down onto the desk. She turned and saw that Ryou was watching her.

"Sorry" He said quietly.

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry for getting you upset over the cooking. I know you can cook some things, espicially rice balls." (remember in vol 1. Ryou said he was hungry so Ichigo went off to make him rice balls. Ryou really liked them and Ichigo got all embarrassed and ran off.)

Ichigo laughed slightly at the memory, and felt a bit of heat rise in her cheeks, and something sturred inside her at Ryou's complement.

"But riceballs are really the only things I can make, I mean I can't even make toast! I'm pretty useless..." Her voice trailed off. To her surprise she felt a warm hand on her cheek. She looked up and met with those deep eyes she has been admiring before. She knew she had probably gone a very unattractive shade of red, but she tried to hold the intent stare with Ryou.

"You're not useless, and don't ever think that. Infact, without you this world would be gone. Without you...I..." But Ryou's voice cut out and his hand slowly left Ichigo's cheek. There was a pause and Ichigo absently touched her cheek. "Thanks, for bringing me my lunch, you better get back to work."

"You're...welcome." She stepped back from the desk and hurried out of the room and downstairs, her heart racing, and not just because she was running. Why had he said that? He confused her so much! She stopped at the end of the stairs, her cheek still tingled from his touch.

"Shirogane..." She whispered quietly to herself.

"I-C-H-I-G-O. Stop daydreaming and get back to work!" Shouted Mint from the opposite side of the cafe, still drinking her afternoon tea.

For the rest of the day Ichigo was in a state of deep thought. She kept thinking over and over again what Shirogane had said her that day.

"I know what its like, not being with the person you love...Without you...I..." His voice kept whirring around in her head. Every now and then she would try and think of Aoyama-kun, but his face always melted away and was replaced by Shirogane's.

When only about an hour was left before closing time, Ryou came downstairs. Ichigo heard the familiar footsteps and looked up. Part of her really wanted him to look over at her, while the other half screamed for him to just ignore her. He stopped stopped about a metre away from her and turned to face her.

"Don't just stand there, work, that's what I pay you to do." And with that said he turned and stalked off to the kitchen.

Ichigo glared after him, she worked harder than any of the others, and there he was telling her to work harder. He was definitely the most arrogant guy ever placed on this earth. Though deep down she knew it wasn't true, he did have a heart, he did care about things, he just didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, he bottled them up inside himself, and never let them show.

"Ichigo..." A voice drifted into her thoughts, she turned quickly. It was Lettuce. "Its closing time Ichigo."

"Oh..err..you guys can leave I'll finish cleaning up."

"But Ichigo, we can't leave you to do all this..." Lettuce looked around the Cafe. Chairs were arranged hapharzardly around the tables and foodcrumbs littered the table and floor.

"No really its ok." Ichigo smiled and ushered the others out of the door.

"See you later Ichigo onee-chan!" Squealed Pudding happily. Ichigo laughed and waved at the retreating backs of her friends. Once they were gone she pushed the large doors shut.

She wondered if she should have asked for help. Cleaning up all the crumbs was tedious work, and the stains on the floor were hard to remove. One particular stain was giving her trouble, no matter how hard to scrubbed it, it refused to fade.

"Better get that stain remover from the kitchen.." She sighed and stood up, brushing off her waitress outfit. She froze however when she saw a light on in the kitchen. The first thing that jumped in her mind ws "burgular". Looking around she grabbed a chair and held it up in front of her as a weapon. Slowly she began to approach the kitchen, like a cat stalking an innocent mouse. When she was at the door she noticed some movement at the back of the kitchen. In her mind she counted to three and then jumped out. She brought the chair down hard on the man's head.

"OUCH! WHAT THE HELL!" The man turned around.

"KYAAAAAA!" Ichigo screamed in surprise. There rubbing his head looking slightly dazed was Shirogane.

"Ichigo! What are you doing trying to kill me! This will come out of your pay check, paying for my hospital bill!"

"Shirogane, I'm so sorry I thought you were a burgular and..." Her voice trailed off when she noticed something else about Shirogane...he was completely covered in flour. She began to laugh, and tried to conceal it with her hand.

"What? Whats so funny?"

"Y..your c..c..completely COVERED in flour!" She said between laughs.

"Eh?" He picked up a spoon and looked at his relfection in it. "Argh.."

"What were you doing Shirogane? Making flour bombs..."

"Err..no." He immediately moved to hide something on the counter. Ichigo was still busy trying to stop laughing that she didn't notice this. "Listen Ichigo, you can head on home."

"But I'm not done cleaning..."

"Forget it."

Ichigo didn't argue any longer, any excuse not to have to clean up all that mess was welcomed by her. She thanked him again and hurried off to the lockers to change.

Ryou watched her leave. He rubbed his head again, and winced. It was extremely painful, but fortunately wasn't bleeding.

"She's a tough one I'll give her that." He muttered. A small smile playing on his lips, despite the pain.

Ichigo walked home humming e-jump's new song. Suddenly a beeping piped up from her right pocket. Startled she pulled it out and flipped open her phone. Aoyama-kun flashed on the screen and then a message appeared beneath it. It read: I'm really sorry Ichigo about tomorrow, I promise to make time for you and only you soon. Its just the championship is coming up and I want to do my best. See you at school on Monday Love Masaya (I didn't think he would sign it as Aoyama-kun ;; but please let me know if I'm wrong )

Ichigo stared at the message. She had been selfish hadn't she, she wanted him to do well. Yet, she still felt sad that she would be spending Valentine's Day working at the cafe. She re-read the message and then her finger hovered over the buttons "reply" and "delete". There was a pause and then her pushed down delete. Popping the phone back in her pocket she continued on home.

Meanwhile hovering above the city were three aliens. Each had their arms folded and were looking down at the city with an upleasant look on their face.

"Kish, were did you say you believed the mew aqua to be." Said Pie in is stern voice.

"There's an exhibition at the museum. A jewel from England is on display there, its one of the rarest gems this Earth has to offer. It is likely to contain a mew aqua."

"Sounds easy, go in grab the gem and leave." Tart gave a small chuckle.

"Unless the mew mews get in the way." Pai countered.

"Oh yeah. The old hag and her bunch of friends. I mean they look liked they popped out of a zoo, who would have thought they could cause us so many problems."

Kish sent a frown towards Tart. He did this automatically everytime Tart referred to Ichigo as 'old hag'. However he didn't comment on it when he next spoke.

"Well then I better leave a little surprise for them." Kish formed a few parasite aliens in his hands a threw them towards the earth. About five large beasts rose from the park. In the day time people would have noticed them, but at night, they were hidden by the tall dark trees.

"Lets see how you'll do against these...my little koneko-chan" Kish whispered softly.

* * *

**Kish:** You can't keep any fo the characters in role  
**Me:** Shut up.  
**Kish: **The only good bit was the bit with me in it...the rest of the fan fic was..well  
**Me:** Shut up  
**Kish:** And all the RyouxIchigo scenes were so awful tha-  
**ME:** SHUT UP  
**Kish:** o.o  
**Me:** Don't worry I still love you hehehe  
**Kish:** o.o great ---sarcasm  
**Ichigo:** -still in cupboard- LET ME OUT ... MASAYA...BLUE KNIGHT SAVE ME  
**Me and Kish**: x.x;

_YAY First chapter done o,o. Email at yoseichan2000 yahoo. com or braindead39 hotmail .com (I'm on the yahoo one more tho ) or leave a review with your opinions and suggestions THANK YOU XD_


End file.
